As Sir Tim Hunt announced his resignation from an honorary professorship at UCL in the wake of his suggestion that science would benefit from “single-sex labs”, female researchers have turned to Twitter to pour scorn on the idea that they are #distractinglysexy.
Sir Tim told a conference in South Korea on 9 June that “three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry”.
Here are some of the responses posted on Twitter using the #distractinglysexy hashtag:
Rare moment where I wasn't crying or falling in love in labs. Damn my feeble female mind!
— Rachael (@TheConstantRach)
Women only lab! the boys have gone off crying
— Louise Renouf (@LouLouMinx)
Is that a magnetic wrench in your pocket or are you just happy to see my array?
— Bailey-Ann (@baileyanns)
": when emptying the biohazardous waste bucket. "
— jo sier (@j_sier)
feeling sexy in boot
— Marie Cachera (@CacheraMarie)
Loving the tweets this morn. Huge problem. Even affected the cows I did my degree research on.
— Lizzie Ellis (@charlania)